Large-capacity transport ship

ABSTRACT

A large-capacity transport ship composed of a bow and of individually equally constructed ship sections (3) which are releasably or fixedly connected to one another. The ship sections each consist of two laterally spaced floating members which are connected at least at their ends. The floating members form the sidewalls of a ship section and the space between the floating members is open freely to the water which supports the ship.

United States Patent [1 1 Stahl Jan. 21, 1975 1 LARGE-CAPACITY TRANSPORTSHIP [75] Inventor: Lothar Stahl,

Niederasdorf/Wehbach, Germany [73] Assignee: Arn. Jung LokomotivfabrikGmbH,

Jungenthal bei Kirchen a.d. Sieg,

Germany [22] Filed: Mar. 13, 1973 [21] Appl. N0.: 340,684

[52] US. Cl. 114/77 R, 114/74 R [51] Int. Cl B63b 3/08 [58] Field ofSearch.... 114/77 R, 77 A, 74 R, 74 T, 114/72, 73, 78, 116, 117,173,174,176, 37, 43.5, 235 R, .5 T

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,369,615 2/1945 Smith114/77 R 3,186,369 6/1965 McLennan et al. 114/77 R X 3,191,568 6/1965Schroeder et al 1l4/43.5 X

3,349,742 10/1967 Bylo 114/77 R 3,478,711 l1/l969 Combs ll4/77 R XFOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 320,600 4/1920 Germany 114/74 R PrimaryExaminerLloyd L. King Assistant ExaminerRandolph A. Reese Attorney,Agent, or FirmWoodhams, Blanchard & Flynn [57] ABSTRACT A large-capacitytransport ship composed of a bow and of individually equally constructedship sections (3) which are releasably or fixedly connected to oneanother. The ship sections each consist of two laterally spaced floatingmembers which are connected at least at their ends. The floating membersform the sidewalls of a ship section and the space between the floatingmembers is open freely to the water which supports the ship.

13 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures LARGE-CAPACITY TRANSPORT SHIP Thisinvention relates to a ship which is used for transporting of largeamounts of goods, preferably for transporting of oil, thus to a shipwith which several hundred thousand tons of goods can be transported.

Ships for transporting oil are already being built which are dimensionedfor several hundred thousand gross registered tons. However, such shipsrequire a large amount of steel. They are endangered during rough sea byleakage which has serious consequences. Furthermore these ships are, dueto their large draught, limited to certain ports capable of handlingthese ships.

The purpose of the invention is to construct a ship having a low weightand low expense and yet capable of transporting large amounts of goods.

According to the invention, a large-capacity transport ship isconstructed so that it is composed of a bow and of individual shipsections which are connected releasably among one another and to thehow, each of said ship sections consisting of two floating members whichare connected at least at their ends, and which floating members formthe sidewalls of one ship section, and that the space enclosed by thefloating members communicates freely with the water carrying the ship. Aship according to the invention forms a tank for receiving floatablegoods or nonfloatable goods which are loaded on load carrying floatingmembers. Thus the ship of the invention does not actually carry theloads which are supposed to be transported but supports only its ownweight, that means it can be manufactured relatively easily andinexpensively. The load itself is, as above stated, stored either infloatable containers which thus float within the actual transport shipand are held in a suitable manner in said transport ship or in largefloating bubbles of plastic if the floatable goods are supposed to betransported, as for example oil. The floating members can be moved intoand out ofthe ship which is openable at the stern end or the ship canseparate from the floating members by travelling on and away therefrom.

Ships according to the invention offer the members which they enclose,which float and which carry the goods, sufficient protection also duringrough sea especially since the ship sections can be constructed with alarge draught. The individual floating members can neither be destroyednor can they get lost. The dimensions of such a ship have practically nolimitations because said ships are no longer forced to enter a port,they can receive or deliver their cargo also in the free sea, thus theymay have a large draught. The cargo can be brought to the ship or can bepicked up by tug boats. The docking times in the ports are no longerrequired.

Two exemplary embodiments of the invention are described hereinafter inconnection with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a ship embodying the inventron,

FIG. 2 is a top view of the ship,

FIGS. 3 to 6 are cross-sectional or front views of the ship sectionsfrom the front and rear,

FIGS. 7 and 8 are a side view and top view, respectively, of a secondembodiment of the invention,

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view,

FIG. 10 is an end view of the stern of the ship, and

FIG. II is a front view of the bow of the ship.

The ship which is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 consists ofa bow 1 withbridge 2 and several identical ship sections 3 which are connectedreleasably or fixedly among one another and with the bow. Each shipsection 3 consists, as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, of two floatablesidewalls 4 and 5 at the ends of which elliptical rings 6 are secured.These rings have a large number of holes 7 therein for receivingfastening means which are used to connect the individual ship sectionswith one another. The rings of one ship section are connected at theirlower side by a web 8.

Each ship section 3 or each half 4, 5 has a drive mechanism notillustrated. The drive mechanism drives a propeller which is identifiedwith 9.

The ship section 3 which is positioned at the rear ol the ship is closedby gate wings l0 and I1 having slots 12 therein through which the watercan penetrate.

The drawings illustrate five ship sections. However. this number can beexceeded and reduced. The length of one ship section can for example beapproximately meters, the draught 30 to 40 meters.

As illustrated in the drawings, the room which is defined by the members4 and 5 is connected to the water so that the load can swim within theship. A plastic bubble 13 filled with oil is illustrated as the load inFIG. 4.

The exemplary embodiment according to FIGS. 7 to 11 differs from thepreviously described exemplary embodiment in its cross-sectional shape.The rings which are here identified as 14 have the shape of a hexagon.The floating members of each ship section 3 which members are identifiedas 15 and 16 are shaped trapezoidally. The gate wings 17, 18 at thestern of the ship are also made to the hexagon shape.

The embodiment of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

l. A large capacity transport ship, comprising a bow and individual butsimilar ship sections, said bow and ship sections being fixedlyconnected to one another in series, said ship sections each comprisingtwo floating members which are connected at least at their ends, saidtwo floating members forming the sidewalls of one said ship section, thespace defined by the floating members being open freely to the waterwhich supports the ship, each ship section additionally comprising apair of transversely disposed rings at and connected to the ends of saidfloating sidewall members for locating said floating sidewall members infixed relative relation to define a load receiving room therebetween,said rings being disposed between and effecting the fixed connectionbetween adjacent ship sections.

2. A transport ship according to claim 1 wherein said rings effect areleaseable connection between adjacent ship sections.

3. A transport ship according to claim I in which said floating sidewallmembers of the ship sections conform in cross section to the radiallyinterior and exterior faces of the rings and the stern of the ship isopenable to permit the floatable cargo members carried in the severalship sections to be moved into and out of the ship through said openablestem.

4. A transport ship according to claim 3 in which each ship section iscapable of floating therein a plastic bubble filled with oil, saidbubble and ship section being of substantially corresponding crosssection.

5. A transport ship according to claim 4 which said ship sections areabout 100 meters in length and have a draught in the range of 30 to 40meters.

6. A transport ship according to claim 3 in which the rings areelliptical and the floating sidewall members are correspondinglyelliptically curved, providing a longitudinally continuous interior andexterior hull configuration through said ship sections.

7. A transport ship according to claim 3 in which the rings and stem aresubstantially of hexagonal shape, the floating members connected therebybeing substantially trapezoidal in cross section and conforming inexternal peripheral shape to said rings and stem.

8. A transport ship according to claim 1 including a web extendinglongitudinally between and connecting the lower sides of the rings of agiven ship section.

9. A transport ship according to claim 1 including means defining aplurality of holes in said rings for receiving fastening means forjoining the individual ship sections in series.

10. A transport ship according to claim 9 in which said fastening meansholes are distributed in the upper and lower portions of said rings, theside portions of said rings connecting to the ends of the floatingsidewall members of the adjacent ship sections.

11. A transport ship according to claim 1 including a separate drive oneach floating sidewall member of a ship section.

12. A large capacity transport ship, comprising a bow and individual butsimilar ship sections, said bow and ship sections being fixedlyconnected to one another in series, said ship sections each comprisingtwo floating members which are connected at least at their ends, saidtwo floating members forming the sidewalls of one said ship section, thespace defined by the floating members being open freely to the waterwhich supports the ship, and a gate disposed at the stern of thesternmost ship section for closing said stern-most ship section, saidgate having flood slots.

13. A transport ship according to claim 12 in which said gate comprisesa pair of gate wings normally closing the rear of the stern-most shipsection, said gate wings being closely transversely opposed to eachother adjacent the center of the ship, each of said gate wings havingones of said slots for permitting penetration of water therethrough,said gate wings being arranged to permit opening of the stern of theship for loading and unloading.

1. A large capacity transport ship, comprising a bow and individual butsimilar ship sections, said bow and ship sections being fixedlyconnected to one another in series, said ship sections each comprisingtwo floating members which are connected at least at their ends, saidtwo floating members forming the sidewalls of one said ship section, thespace defined by the floating members being open freely to the waterwhich supports the ship, each ship section additionally comprising apair of transversely disposed rings at and connected to the ends of saidfloating sidewall members for locating said floating sidewall members infixed relative relation to define a load receiving room therebetween,said rings being disposed between and effecting the fixed connectionbetween adjacent ship sections.
 2. A transport ship according to claim 1wherein said rings effect a releaseable connection between adjacent shipsections.
 3. A transport ship according to claim 1 in which saidfloating sidewall members of the ship sections conform in cross sectionto the radially interior and exterior faces of the rings and the sternof the ship is openable to permit the floatable cargo members carried inthe several ship sections to be moved into and out of the ship throughsaid openable stern.
 4. A transport ship according to claim 3 in whicheach ship section is capable of floating therein a plastic bubble filledwith oil, said bubble and ship section being of substantiallycorresponding cross section.
 5. A transport ship according to claim 4which said ship sections are about 100 meters in length and have adraught in the range of 30 to 40 meters.
 6. A transport ship accordIngto claim 3 in which the rings are elliptical and the floating sidewallmembers are correspondingly elliptically curved, providing alongitudinally continuous interior and exterior hull configurationthrough said ship sections.
 7. A transport ship according to claim 3 inwhich the rings and stern are substantially of hexagonal shape, thefloating members connected thereby being substantially trapezoidal incross section and conforming in external peripheral shape to said ringsand stern.
 8. A transport ship according to claim 1 including a webextending longitudinally between and connecting the lower sides of therings of a given ship section.
 9. A transport ship according to claim 1including means defining a plurality of holes in said rings forreceiving fastening means for joining the individual ship sections inseries.
 10. A transport ship according to claim 9 in which saidfastening means holes are distributed in the upper and lower portions ofsaid rings, the side portions of said rings connecting to the ends ofthe floating sidewall members of the adjacent ship sections.
 11. Atransport ship according to claim 1 including a separate drive on eachfloating sidewall member of a ship section.
 12. A large capacitytransport ship, comprising a bow and individual but similar shipsections, said bow and ship sections being fixedly connected to oneanother in series, said ship sections each comprising two floatingmembers which are connected at least at their ends, said two floatingmembers forming the sidewalls of one said ship section, the spacedefined by the floating members being open freely to the water whichsupports the ship, and a gate disposed at the stern of the stern-mostship section for closing said stern-most ship section, said gate havingflood slots.
 13. A transport ship according to claim 12 in which saidgate comprises a pair of gate wings normally closing the rear of thestern-most ship section, said gate wings being closely transverselyopposed to each other adjacent the center of the ship, each of said gatewings having ones of said slots for permitting penetration of watertherethrough, said gate wings being arranged to permit opening of thestern of the ship for loading and unloading.